JN-1041

Jerusalem News (11 December, 2013, 8 Tevet, 5774)

Contents:
1. Israel says Iran embassies used as 'terror bases'
2. Slavery Still Lives in Asia and Africa.  India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria on slavery's list of shame, says report
3. In Favor of Breast is Best. The worst breastfeeding initiative I've ever come across by Joanna Moorhead 
4. Jordan Plays Role In Syrian War
5. Stop rewarding Palestinian terrorists with aid money, Dutch Parliament says
6. Knock-Out Game Afro-American and Puerto Rican Young Thugs now Targeting Jews!
7. Statements by PM Netanyahu and PM of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Rutte
After Their Meeting in Jerusalem  08/December/2013
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1. Israel says Iran embassies used as 'terror bases'
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-says-iran-embassies-used-39-terror-bases-215238670.html
Extracts:
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's defence minister on Monday accused Iran of using its embassies as terrorist bases and transferring guns and bombs through diplomatic pouches, without providing evidence for the claims.

The two regional foes are widely believed to be locked in a covert war over Iran's nuclear programme, with Tehran blaming Israel for the killing of its nuclear scientists and Israel accusing Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of terror attacks in third countries.

"Wherever there are Iranian embassies, they also serve as bases for espionage and terrorism," Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement after meeting with visiting Guatemalan President Otto Perez.

"The Iranians use their diplomatic courier to transfer bombs and arms," he said, referring to pouches carried by diplomats that are not customarily subject to inspection.

"We know there are South American countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia where the Iranians maintain terror bases in their embassies and among the local Shiite Muslim population," Yaalon said.

Israel and Argentine authorities have long suspected Iranian involvement in the bombings of a Jewish centre and the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in the 1990s that killed scores of people, charges denied by Iran.

More recently, Israel blamed Iran and Hezbollah for the July 2012 suicide bombing of a bus packed with Israeli tourists in Bulgaria that killed six people and wounded 35 others. Bulgarian authorities also said Hezbollah was behind the attack.

Last week Hezbollah said a member of its secretive top leadership had been shot dead near Beirut and blamed Israel for the assassination. Israel denied responsibility.

Israel has long viewed Iran as its greatest threat because of Tehran's controversial nuclear programme, which Israel and Western nations suspect is aimed at covertly developing a nuclear weapons capability.
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2. Slavery Still Lives in Asia and Africa
India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria on slavery's list of shame, says report

By Tim Hume, CNN
October 18, 2013 -- Updated 0228 GMT (1028 HKT)
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/17/world/global-slavery-index/

Extract:

Hong Kong (CNN) -- A new report claiming to be the most comprehensive look at global slavery says 30 million people are living as slaves around the world.

The Global Slavery Index, published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, lists India as the country with by far the most slaves, with an estimated nearly 14 million, followed by China (2.9 million) and Pakistan (2.1 million).

The top 10 countries on its list of shame accounted for more than three quarters of the 29.8 million people living in slavery, with Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Thailand, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Bangladesh completing the list.

In terms of countries with the highest of proportion of slaves, Mauritania in West Africa topped the table, with about 4% of its 3.4 million people enslaved, followed by Haiti, Pakistan, India and Nepal
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3. In Favor of Breast is Best
The worst breastfeeding initiative I've ever come across
by
Joanna Moorhead 
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/12/worst-breastfeeding-initiative-shopping-vouchers

The Guardian, Tuesday 12 November 2013 16.54 GMT        

Extract:

Unless you've been living on another planet the last few years, here's one thing you'll be certain about. Breast is best. Babies who are breastfed are less likely to get infections in their early months; probably won't get diarrhoea or constipation, which is virtually unknown; and are at lower risk of eczema. When weaned, they are more likely to enjoy the taste of solid food. As they grow up, their IQ is higher, and they are less likely to need orthodontic treatment. As adults they have lower cholesterol, and a reduced risk of diabetes or obesity.

It's not just babies: mothers who breastfeed are healthier. They're at lower risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and postnatal depression. If ever nature gave us a key to improving health now and into the future, this would surely be it. So it has to follow that as a society we should be doing all we can to encourage every new mother to do it.

One of the problems with modern medicine is this: it's too much about body, and not enough about the mind. For hundreds of thousands of years, breastfeeding mothers have instinctively understood that putting a child to a breast is about a great deal more than getting milk inside it.
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4. Jordan Plays Role In Syrian War
By The Middle East Newsline
menewsline.com Wed Dec 4 2013
Extracts:
Jordan was said to have increased its role in the Sunni revolt in neighboring Syria.
http://israelbehindthenews.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=6993&q=1
Arab diplomatic sources said the Hashemite kingdom was hosting the training of thousands of Islamist rebels in the war against Syrian President Bashar Assad. They said the rebels, trained and equipped by Saudi Arabia and the United States, were moving into the southern suburbs around Damascus as well as the southern city of Dera.

"They are now considered to be the best-equipped rebel force in southern Syria," a diplomat said.

Jordan has dismissed reports of training and deploying Sunni rebels. But the sources said the flow of trained rebels from Jordan to Syria intensified over the last month and reached the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus in an attempt to break the siege of the Syrian Army and its Hizbullah ally.

The sources said the Jordanian-origin force was being commanded by Saudi intelligence with guidance from the CIA. They said most of the militias were operating under the auspices of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army and played a role in the rebel offensive around Damascus in late November.

Syria has expressed anger at the flow of rebels from Jordan. The sources said the Assad regime has relayed veiled threats of retaliation.
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5. Stop rewarding Palestinian terrorists with aid money, Dutch Parliament says
http://unitycoalitionforisrael.org/news/?p=10143
 - JNS.org,  December 5th, 2013
Extracts:
The Dutch Parliament has called on the Dutch government to pressure the Palestinian Authority (PA) to stop giving Palestinian terrorists aid money.

According to research complied by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), Palestinian terrorists who spend more than five years in Israeli prisons continue receiving money even after their release. Much of the money comes from aid funds provided by European Union nations. An unpublished report by the European Court of Auditors detailed how EU aid to the Palestinians has been 'misspent, squandered or lost to corruption' to the tune of 1.95 billion euros between 2008 and 2012, The Sunday Times reported in October.

After the U.K. and Norway inquired about the PA aid terrorists, the PA admitted its law originally stated it was paying 'salaries,' called 'ratib.' Following the inquiries, the PA changed its description of the aid to... 'assistance.'

'This is very rewarding to see that the Netherlands is following Norway in demanding a change in the PA. If these and other countries, including Britain, which are pressuring the PA about its support for terror will follow through with concrete financial actions, that will give a strong message to the PA. The PA will finally have to choose: Either the PA will continue be a terror-supporting entity ostracized and isolated by the Western world, or a terror-fighting entity and peace partner for Israel. It is time that Western counties who support the PA financially demand that the PA make this choice,' Itamar Marcus, director of PMW, told JNS.org.
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6. Knock-Out Game Afro-American and Puerto Rican Young Thugs now Targeting Jews!
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(a) Knockout (violent game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knockout_(violent_game)

The "knockout game" is one of many names given to assaults in which, purportedly, one or more assailants attempt to knock out an unsuspecting victim, often with a single sucker punch, all for the amusement of the attackers and their accomplices.

Antisemitism

Several attacks on Jewish victims in Brooklyn in 2013 have been called antisemitic hate crimes.[4][5][6] ABC Nightline reported that New York City police believed that antisemitism was likely to be a motive in the attacks, as all eight victims were identified as Jewish.[37] Jewish community leaders in Brooklyn have spoken out on the subject,[29][38] and the Anti Defamation League regional office issued a public statement on Knockout attacks "targeting Jewish individuals in Brooklyn".[39] A 28-year-old suspect in an attack that took place in Brooklyn was charged with a hate crime as his victim was Jewish, which has potential to greatly increase consequences over a charge of simple assault.[4][8][40] The man has claimed innocence and denied the claims of antisemitism.[41]

On December 3 newly elected NYC councilwoman Laurie Cumbo added a letter to her Facebook page, saying,"The accomplishments of the Jewish community triggers feelings of resentment, and a sense that Jewish success is not also their success." The Anti-Defamation League said her post was "troubling" and that it evoked "classic anti-Semitic stereotypes."[42] NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly later stated that he was avoiding referring to the attacks as part of any sort of trend to avoid further copycat attacks and has instead been labeling them as hate crimes.[36]
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 (b)  Sucker punch: Brooklyn Jews targeted in 'knockout' attacks
By JTA  11/29/2013 03:50
http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Sucker-punch-Brooklyn-Jews-targeted-in-knockout-attacks-333465
Extracts:

NEW YORK  Chava, a student at a Chabad seminary, has lived in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn for six years, but it's only in the past few days that she started carrying pepper spray in her handbag.

Her younger brother gave her the deterrent after news hit of a string of recent attacks against Orthodox Jews, seven of them in Crown Heights.

The assaults, believed to be part of a national wave of so-called 'knockout game' attacks in which black teens punch random white strangers for sport, are unnerving Jews in the racially mixed neighborhood still haunted by the days of rioting there in 1991.

The latest attack came Monday, when a 72-year-old Russian-speaking Jewish woman was punched in the East New York neighborhood, according to the Daily News.

In other American cities, knockout victims have been non-Jewish whites. In New York, the victims of all nine punching attacks reported so far appear to be Jewish, and the New York Police Department's Hate Crimes Unit is investigating.

It is unclear whether the attacks, none of which have involved robberies, are linked. A police spokesman interviewed last Friday declined to share details about the incidents but said that eight of the Brooklyn attacks fall into the hate crimes category.
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7. Statements by PM Netanyahu and PM of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Rutte
After Their Meeting in Jerusalem  08/December/2013
http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Events/Pages/eventrutte081213.aspx

Extracts:

Netanyahu: Mark, it's very good to see you and your delegation. It's a great
relationship that we have, both between our countries, our peoples, our
governments and between us personally. You're a great friend, a champion of
Dutch-Israeli relations and a champion of peace and prosperity and I welcome
you here in that spirit. We've been working together, not only in these
meetings but throughout we've had constant communications in our quest for
peace and security.

Holland is a natural partner. It's a small country. It's got a tremendous
history facing very powerful forces,  the Spanish Empire at one time,  a
great commercial and economic enterprising people that has been the hob of
expertise and initiative and entrepreneurship. And I think that in many ways
there is a parallel here and a natural affinity. We have looked at a lot of
the things that you have done: your transportation hubs, your economic
policies.

We've learned a lot from that, copied quite a few things and we think that
the ability to cooperate together in the fields of technology is key. The
future belongs to those who innovate. This is the only way that we can
justify the higher cost of products and our services and raise the living
standards of our people. We have a capacity to innovate; you have a capacity
to innovate; and if we work together, I think that capacity could be very
powerful, both in direct cooperation and also in things that we can do in
third countries and better the lot of a lot of peoples, for example in
Africa and other places. I think that Dutch-Israeli cooperation can be
productive, not only for ourselves, but also for the peoples that we serve.

So these are some of the things that we are going to discuss. We also had
the opportunity to discuss how Dutch companies and the Dutch government
could assist our effort to advance the peace with the Palestinians. That's
primarily by advancing prosperity but it doesn't substitute for the
political, but buttresses it and helps give people hope and prevents them
from sliding to, I would say to radical, I was going to give them a
compliment, medieval ideologies. But I think they're pre-medieval in some
cases. This is what we want to do. We want to embrace the future in this
effort that we're now conducting for prosperity, security and peace.

Last time I was in Holland, I visited the ancient Portuguese Synagogue in
Amsterdam. It's one of the great synagogues of the world and it's a
reflection, I think, of the role that Holland, really the free state of
Holland, played in our history, being a point of refuge for Portuguese Jews.
We know that they found there not merely a spiritual and physical haven, but
a people that is fundamentally, I would say, sympathetic to Jewish values. I
know that the Dutch language contains a lot of words, so the one word that
I'll tell you that I know has come from Spinoza and the greats who occupied
Holland, it's mazal. We need a lot of good mazal. And with our cooperation,
I think we'll get it. Mazal Tov, exactly.

Rutte: Thank you so much. My good friend, Bibi, thank you again for this
very warm welcome. As you know, we have a tremendous friendship between
Israel and the Netherlands. I didn't come here alone; I came with two of my
cabinet colleagues and over 60 companies accompanying me from the water
sector, from ICT, from energy, from AgriFood because we want to do business.
The Netherlands is open for business.

At the same time, we discussed in our meeting we just had issues on the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict and how we can help to solve that. Obviously we
discussed the question of the Iranian developments.

Netanyahu: How could we not?

Rutte: How could we not? And we both agreed, I think, that economic
prosperity and growth is of paramount importance to fight the extremist
forces and to get things going. We as Netherlands are fully aware of the
security concerns of Israel; we will always be. We are good friends and in
that spirit and the spirit of innovation, where we work hand-in-hand, I
really want to thank you for this very special visit and I'm looking forward
to the dinner we will have later and discussions here at this table, which
will be concerned with all the economic developments.

Netanyahu: Thank you. Thank you Mark.

Question: Do you really have raised the idea of the Dutch setting up a
two-track [inaudible] here as well as in Palestinian areas. And I'm asking
the question because we had the idea that [inaudible] in the last few days,
there was an issue with the container approval, container site in Gaza was
[inaudible]. Our Foreign Minister was not allowed to walk the streets of
Hebron without the IDF. Do you know if that was arranged in advance? And
lastly, I'm here with a group of journalists and only allowed to ask one
question so, the question to you simply, sir, is are you somewhat irritated
with us?

Netanyahu: Really? No. I wish all my dealings with foreign leaders and
foreign governments were akin to what I have with Mark and your delegation
and your government. Look, I have a record. My record has been to facilitate
economic development of the Palestinian areas as far as possible. People
wrongly call it the economic peace. I never said that this would substitute
for political peace. I just repeated that. It doesn't but it facilitates it
and during my second term in office, the Palestinian economy and the
Palestinian Authority grew by about 10%. It's slackened; it's now at least
half that, perhaps less than that.

And we have a goal, which is a common goal with the Palestinians, to raise
that level.

And the only way you raise that level is doing things that I did, and I have
to be clear about it,  we removed hundreds of roadblocks, checkpoints,
hundreds, facilitated movement of goods and services and this has been
indispensable for the growth of the Palestinian economy in the Palestinian
Authority. Now in Gaza, when we left unilaterally, we left and gave it up,
what happened was that it was taken over essentially by Iran's proxies,
Hamas and now Islamic Jihad, and they have used that place to basically
start a war economy: rockets, missiles and so on. Nevertheless, we opened up
the passages and enabled them to import the needs that they have.

I think it's very important for us to make sure that what comes out of Gaza
is not used for war materiel. For example, we just discovered a tunnel. The
tunnel had 700 tons of concrete - 700 tons of concrete into one tunnel. We
think there are at least another 15-20 tunnels like that. So we allow them
to bring concrete and then they use it for tunnels that are used for
kidnapping or attacks against us.

So obviously we're not interested in that....